Swim Safe Little Seals

Water Safety Week is coming up at Seal Swim School!

December 4th thru December 10th, Seal Swim School will be providing our little swimmers and their families water safety information necessary to be safer around water.

Florida has the highest drowning rate in the United States for children four years and under.

We lose an average of four preschool classrooms each year to drowning. Moreover, the Greater Tampa Bay Area has the fourth largest drowning rate in the state. Children under four are the most at risk for drowning and while these numbers may seem daunting, there are ways we can work together to lower them.

Bring your swimmers to class fully clothed (the more clothes the better!) so that they can experience what falling into the water unexpectedly would feel like. We will be teaching your children the importance of never swimming alone and keeping a grown up close to them whenever they are in and around water. They will learn to look before they swim and how to decide if it is safe to jump in. Our instructors will also explain why they should not jump in to save a friend, and how they can help their friends without endangering themselves. Our team will be using illustrated, child friendly posters and real life examples in order to teach these life saving skills.

Sammy's little swimmers will get to try on life jackets and use them in the pool!

This experience will help them understand how life jackets can be helpful and when they should be worn. Your children will practice turning around and getting the wall as well as falling in the water backwards. We will teach them survival floating and what items around the pool deck they can use in case of an emergency. Even though all of our swim lessons at Seal Swim School practice survival and safety skills daily, Water Safety Week lets the children focus solely on life saving skills.

Water Safety is not only the responsibility of our little swimmers.

We have some tips for our parents/guardians as well! Parents of our little swimmers are off to a great start. Swimming lessons alone reduce your child's drowning risk by 88%! Kudos! With that being said, put a ring of safety around your little seal using constant supervision, having regular water safety talks, implementing barriers/alarms in and around the pool area and CPR trainings. All are important tools to have in your toolbox to help keep your children safer.

Seal Swim School's goal is to provide parents/guardians and their children with the skills and knowledge to prevent accidents and respond to emergencies should they occur.